hankyoreh

People wait in line at the departure area of Gimpo International Airport on June 29, 2022, the day that direct flights to Haneda, Japan, were restored. (Kim Myoung-jin/The Hankyoreh)

Korea’s daily caseload of COVID-19 has risen above 10,000 for the first time since June 9. The virus’s basic reproduction number (R0) has risen to 1.0, indicating that cases are now on the rise, rather than the decline.

The reproduction number indicates how many people each carrier infects: 1 or above means the spread is escalating, while below 1 means it’s being suppressed.

“We expect the number of confirmed cases today will exceed 10,000 for the first time in 20 days, since June 9. The [reproduction number] fell to 0.7 at the end of April but has steadily risen since then, reaching 1.0 yesterday,” said Lee Ki-il, second vice minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

“The fact that the reproduction number is now above 1 means that the COVID-19 trend has moved from decreasing to increasing,” Lee explained.

“Cases of COVID-19 are rising quickly in European countries, including Germany, France, and the UK. The primary causes shared across these countries are the spread of viral variants, including BA.4 and BA.5, and population movement for the summer holidays.”

Korea’s Central Disease Control Headquarters announced Wednesday that 10,463 people had tested positive for COVID-19 the previous day. The caseload during the past week, since June 23, is as follows: 7,493 → 7,221 → 6,788 → 6,240 → 3,424 → 9,896 → 10,463.

In the third week of June, the BA.5 viral variant was detected in 7.5% of domestic infections and 32.8% of imported infections, up. 5.5 points and 19.5 points, respectively, from the previous week.

“Viral variants are spreading here in Korea, too. Since more people are on the road for the summer [holidays], we need to take extra precautions at this time,” Lee said.

By Jang Hyeon-eun, staff reporter

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